Past model Carrie (Otis) Sutton. (Photo: Instagram iamcarreotis @)
When the #metoo movement erupted, it was only natural that it would expose problematic and violent behavior patterns in the fashion industry as well. But the truth is that the dark side of the modeling industry has been exposed before, and for several decades now there have been harsh stories about the abuse and exploitation of very young women, some of them girls, by industry executives. Now, a new docu-series from Sky’s Documentary Division called:
“Scouting for Girls: Fashion’s Darkest Secret” reveals more behind-the-scenes stories of the industry, with four past models telling their personal stories, and a trigger warning – they are tough.
One of the interviewees is Curry (Otis) Sutton, 53, who is one of 11 women who filed a complaint last year against Gerald Marie, who was president of the European division of the elite modeling agency, in rape. “He forced himself on me and raped me, sometimes several times a week,” Sutton says in a documentary about meeting Marie, when she was only 17 years old. Marie was married to supermodel Linda Evangelista, and last year, after allegations were made against him, she released a statement that she did not know about when they happened, but that she believed in the victims, in part because of her personal experiences with Marie, which she did not elaborate.
Gerald Marie in 2006. (Photo: Foc Kan / WireImage for Getty Images)
Sutton adds in a docu that modeling industry workers knew and collaborated with the exploitation of young models, and she claims that this was especially the case in Paris, where she was sent to auditions in the homes of photographers who were known as serial harassers, and was asked to undress in front of them. “It was perfectly normal,” she said. “Choose the most vulnerable models, the ones who did not make much money.”
Another model named Jill David tells Bedouin that she too was raped by Marie in Paris in 1980 when she was 20. Later, David was in a relationship with a Saudi arms dealer, and said that only in retrospect did she discover that he paid her modeling agency tens of thousands of dollars to get to know him. Including. “We were young and took advantage of us, our agents groomed us and sold us,” she said. ‘Years after that I blamed myself and asked myself how I could be so stupid and how I let it happen. In reality, I had no chance against these strong men who were older than me and conspired against us. ‘
Sutton in the New York Times. (Photo: Instagram iamcarreotis @)
Another official whose name appears in the docu is French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, who was close to Jeffrey Epstein and just like him – was found dead in prison after suicide, after being arrested in 2020 for rape and sexual assault. Former model Marian Shane is interviewed by Doku and says she was raped by Brunel in the 1980s in Paris, and sexually harassed by another French modeling agent who has already passed away – Claude Haddad. According to her, Haddad harassed her career because she did not “play the game.”
“I remember once doing a trial shoot with a photographer and he told me, ‘We have to lie down otherwise you don’t get the pictures,'” Shane said. ‘Things like that happen all the time. I went to complain to him at my agency, and they responded as if it was not a big deal. ‘ Another model by a different name tells me in a docu that she was raped by Gerald Marie when she was only 15, in the 1990s.
Sutton and Carla Bruni. (Photo: Instagram iamcarreotis @)
Marie still denies the allegations against him, but the models at Doku say they intend to fight for the truth, fight against the statute of limitations that are customary in rape cases and mostly protect the young women who work in the modeling industry today. In addition, they emphasize that the victims are mostly unnamed models. “Famous models are much less vulnerable,” says Jill David. ‘The big stars suffered less from abuse than the anonymous who barely made money. That way it stays secret. Famous models have a voice, I did not have a voice and most models do not. ‘
Marie still denies the allegations against him, but the models at Doku say they intend to fight for the truth, fight against the statute of limitations that are customary in rape cases and mostly protect the young women who work in the modeling industry today. In addition, they emphasize that the victims are mostly unnamed models. “Famous models are much less vulnerable,” says Jill David. ‘The big stars suffered less from abuse than the anonymous who barely made money. That way it stays secret. “Famous models have a voice, I did not have a voice and most of the models do not.”